NHL: Giroux leads Flyers to 7-0 rout of Islanders

Philadelphia Flyers' Claude Giroux, right, passes around New York Islanders' Travis Hamonic during the first period of the NHL hockey game Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — When he determined it was time to exercise his captainly vocal chords and call out his team for such indiscretions as lack of effort and performance Saturday night in Montreal, Claude Giroux was smart enough to count himself among the accused.

In a Monday matinee at the NHL’s worst building, Giroux vented his frustrations another way.

It took him 26 seconds before he scored only his fourth goal of the season. It took him 15 seconds into the second period to set-up another Flyers goal, and from there Giroux and the Flyers cruised to a 7-0 victory over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

Giroux (two goals) and linemate Matt Read each had three points, while other top linemate Jakub Voracek counted up four assists in a blowout the Flyers not only needed in the standings, but also in their heads.

Advertisement

“It’s not only that he spoke out, he responded to his comments (on the ice) today,” Brayden Schenn said of Giroux. “Obviously, it’s just one game. We have to keep it going. But especially him, and the whole line set the tone. Not only the first period but the second period as well. That’s what we need every night, not just one game.”

For this oh-so important Islanders win that followed losses in New Jersey and Montreal, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette had the bright idea to put Voracek and Read on Giroux’s increasingly changing wings. For one game, at least, it worked like magic. That trio combined for 10 points in the game, including the first two Flyers goals that came within the first minute of play in each of the first and second periods — exactly what the Devils had done to the Flyers Friday night.

As sickening as that game in New Jersey was, the Flyers slipped into a coma the next night in Montreal. They played effortlessly, and not at all in a good way. Giroux, a quiet captain in these early days of his speechmaking development, promptly gave his team a brief lecture after that game then blasted everyone to the media afterward.

Wincing when that was brought up in a decidedly different locker room atmosphere on Long Island, Giroux adopted a milder tone.

“I think as a team we weren’t satisfied,” Giroux said after the Flyers improved to a still unacceptable 7-9-1. “How we showed up (or didn’t) every game, and how we played as a team, I don’t think it was acceptable.”

Against the Islanders (6-8-1), however, it was a different story right from the start.

With the players questioning themselves and others wondering if the head coach and perhaps the front office boss were reasonably safe in their positions, the Flyers, who always seem comfortable in the gritty environs of this outdated hockey outpost, completely dominated every facet of the game.

This against an Islanders team that lately had looked somewhat competent.

But Giroux set the tone of the game on the first shift, first putting a hit on the Islanders’ best player, John Tavares, then scoring the game’s first goal 26 seconds in. It seemed similar to Giroux’s call to action of Game 6 in the playoffs last spring against the Pittsburgh Penguins, opening that game by decking Sidney Crosby, then scoring a goal.

“That’s the way he is,” Voracek said of Giroux. “He did the same thing against Pittsburgh in Game 6 last year. He is a winner. Obviously, I think the way (Giroux) was playing today he could have won the game by himself.”

Giroux came out for the second and caused more problems. He unloaded a shot that hit goalie Evgeni Nabokov and bounced right to Read, who netted it for a 2-0 lead.

After that goal, the Islanders — especially Tavares, the local hero who would wind up a minus-3 with just two shots — just kind of disappeared into the corners.

The Flyers’ forechecking efforts nullified anything offensive the Islanders could seem to dream up. Then Brayden Schenn scored on a power play to make it 3-0 at 7:57, and Giroux followed up with another goal, skillfully intercepting a wide shot and tucking it behind the out of position Nabokov at 14:45 for a 4-zip lead.

In the law according to Isles coach Jack Capuano, that misplay apparently earned a lesson for Nabokov, because he was left out to wither and dry in the third period. The Flyers scored three more, one by Zac Rinaldo off a speedy setup by Phantoms promotee Harry Zolnierczyk, then two by Danny Briere to pump his stats and send the hundreds of people left to go home in a fog.

As they so often do here. But hey, sometimes it’s difficult to make things clear.

“We can’t be looking at the big picture right now,” Giroux said. “We’re aware that we’re not in the playoffs right now. But we have to look at the small picture, that every game we have to show up and play the full 60 (minutes).”

Sounds like a sound strategy, but one that seemed to be taken seriously only after Giroux finally sounded off.